We talk about sex and sexuality

Him: Topic #2

To be totally honest this isn’t my first encounter with Intersex. When I was in high school I read a truly moving novel called “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides. It’s an engaging and utterly enthralling tale that sweeps the reader up in the mysteries and life of an intersex person who lives at times as a man who enjoys cigars and at other times as a woman. The reason I bring this particular book up is that it was the first book I’d ever read that actually let me look at the idea of intersex from the perspective of someone who was actually intersex.

As the topic states, the old term for intersex was hermaphroditism, which is the term I was always most familiar with. I don’t believe I’ve ever actually talked to an intersex person for any real length of time. I’ve conversed with transexual men and women, transvestites, drag queens, but never an Intersex individual. I find this to be, if nothing else, a horrible loss on my part.

I have a nearly insatiable curiosity when it comes to things like Intersex folks, if only because they, in all their forms, are beautiful. Of course, so are every other person on the planet, and my curiosity is just as insatiable for all of them. That’s not the point though, the point is, I’ve yet to get the chance to sit down and have a face to face conversation with someone who is Intersex!

Changing gears, I want to talk about the very end of the Topic #2 Entry, specifically,

“Some health care professionals will swear that the best course of action is for the parents to choose a sex for their child and allow an operation to take place that would define their gender.

I’ll be perfectly clear how I feel about those particular healthcare “Professionals,” fuck them all. I understand the knee jerk reaction that some parents can have when they have a child that does not have clearly defined male or female genitals to fix everything immediately. When you think about it though, how horrible for that child will it be if the parents pick the WRONG gender?

When a child is growing up, they are taught certain gendercentric characteristics. It happened to me, it happened to you. Boys are “supposed” to play with guns and like rough housing. Girls are “supposed” to like pink and play with dolls. Now imagine growing up being told you are one gender, but feeling deep down inside that you’re the other gender.

That particular emotion is one that Transexual men and woman can understand well, the rest of us though simply cannot. This is my personal opinion mind you, but if someone, including myself someday, has a child that is intersex, I’m leaving everything exactly as it is until my child can decide what gender he or she might end up wanting. Also, if it’s medically safe for them, and they want to keep their genitals as they are, well then, fantastic.

All in all, I think I’ve made it clear that on this topic at least, I have no reservations or detractions. Intersex individuals are people just like the rest of us and deserve the chance to live happy, peaceful lives. Sure they might be different from what society deems to be “normal” but so what? Society isn’t right about everything, I think slavery is a testament to that.